Nov. 20, 2001

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NCAA TOURNAMENT ACTION

The No. 19 Panthers are matched with Missouri-Kansas City in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Friday at 7 p.m. in St. Louis, Mo. Milwaukee received the at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament on the strength of an 18-4 season record and will play at host No. 4 St. Louis, who received a first-round bye. St. Louis receives the sixth seed in the tournament to host and will play the winner of UWM vs. UMKC on Sunday at 1 p.m.

UMKC KANGAROOS (11-6-1, 3-2)

Milwaukee has never faced the Kangaroos, who received the automatic bid after winning their first-ever Mid-Continent Conference Tournament title with a 2-1 win over IUPUI in the championship. UMKC, who won a share of the conference regular-season title with two other teams, is currently ranked fifth in the Midwest Region. Junior goalkeeper Beau Williams won Mid-Con Tournament MVP honors after recording eight saves in the 0-0 semifinal tie with Oakland in four overtimes and stopping the first penalty kick in the 4-3 shootout. He tallied three saves and gave up one PK against IUPUI. Williams is the only goalkeeper to see time for UMKC and records the 11-6-1 record, including six shutouts. He has a 1.05 GAA in 1717:18 minutes, along with 63 saves in 206 shots faced. Kangaroos' coach Rick Benben was named the Mid-Con Coach of the Year while senior forward Larry Scheller was named Mid-Con Player of the Year. Scheller leads the team in scoring with 24 points (11g, 2a), while Drew Perkins is second with 16 points (6g, 4a). UMKC has played the Horizon League only once this season, losing 5-0 to Butler. The Kangaroos return 10 starters from a year ago.

ST. LOUIS BILLIKENS (16-1, 9-2)

The No. 4 Billikens won its second-consecutive C-USA tournament title with a 2-0 win over Marquette on Nov. 18. The Bills swept past Charlotte, 4-1, in the semifinals on Nov. 16. St. Louis also won the regular-season crown for the second-straight year, and have won either the regular-season or postseason title in each of the last five years. The C-USA champs boast Hermann Trophy candidate Brad Davis and national Player of the Year candidate Dipsy Selolwane. A sophomore midfielder, Davis is second in team scoring with 30 points (9g, 12a) as a finalist for college soccer's oldest national Player of the Year award and was named the Most Valuable Midfielder at the C-USA Tournament. Selolwane was named C-USA's Player of the Year and the tournament's Most Valuable Forward. He ranks among the nation's top five in scoring with an outstanding 51 points (24g, 3a). The Billikens are tough to beat at home, compiling a 25-4-4 record in three seasons at Hermann Stadium and are currently on a 13-game unbeaten streak there. St. Louis has qualified a record 40 times in the 43-year history of the NCAA Tournament. The Bills have won a record 10 national championships and are the winningest team in tournament history at 58-28-3. St. Louis is led by first-year head coach Dan Donigan, who was an assistant for four years with the squad.

SERIES HISTORY

UWM has never met Missouri-Kansas City before, but is 1-2 against St. Louis. UWM recorded its win against the Bills in 1980 with a 1-0 score at Engelmann Field. UWM posted a 1-0 loss at home in 1987, and also a 5-0 loss in 1978 at St. Louis.

NCAA HISTORY

UWM has made it to the NCAA Tournament on three other occasions: 1990, 1980 and 1979. The last time UWM was in, the Panthers lost, 5-1, at Indiana. Before that, UWM dropped both other games at Cleveland State, losing, 1-0, in 1980 and, 2-1, in 1979

TOURNAMENT RUNNERS-UP

As Horizon League regular-season champions, UWM captured the first seed in the league tournament and earned the right to host. Milwaukee defeated Cleveland State, 3-2, in the quarterfinal and Wright State, 1-0, in the semifinal before losing to Butler, 2-0, in the championship.

BULLETPROOF BUTLER

The Panthers pounded the Bulldogs with shots, recording the 23-9 advantage. Thirteen of those shots were on target for UWM, but Butler goalkeeper Grant Barrie came up huge for the Bulldogs to record 11 saves. Barrie was named the Horizon League Tournament MVP after protecting the Bulldogs from UWM's relentless attack for the shutout. Milwaukee also recorded 18 corner kicks compared with Butler's two.

LEAGUE ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM

Four players from UWM were recognized with all-tournament team honors: Tighe Dombrowski, Trent Furtsch, B.J. Blake and Ryan Seymour.

NATIONAL RANKING

The Panthers received their first national ranking since 1995 when they captured the No. 19 spot in the NSCAA poll on Oct. 7 this season, and have been ranked the rest of the season. A convincing 3-0 win on the road against then-No. 14 Creighton, coupled with wins over Marquette and Wisconsin and a 11-2 record helped UWM receive the national attention. Consecutive wins gave Milwaukee the No. 16 spot the following week, but a tough 3-2 loss at Akron in the closing seconds dropped UWM to No. 23 on Oct. 22. Road wins helped the Panthers climb back to No. 16, and league wins at home allowed UWM to stand at No. 15 until it lost in the Horizon League Tournament Championship. The Panthers enter the NCAA Tournament holding the No. 19 spot.

REGULAR-SEASON TRENDS

Senior forward Ryan Seymour was named the 2001 Horizon League Player of the Year and Louis Bennett was named Coach of the Year. All-League first team members from UWM include junior defender Chad Dombrowski, sophomore midfielder Tighe Dombrowski, junior goalkeeper Chris Dadaian and Seymour. Sophomore forward Kyle Lance and freshman defender Khaled El-Ahmad were named to the All-League second team, while El-Ahmad, freshman defender Trent Furtsch and freshman midfielder Antou Jallow were named to the All-Newcomer Team.

PANTHER SCORING

Ryan Seymour ended the regular season as the Horizon League leader in points (39), shots, gamewinning goals and was second in goals. Kyle Lance led the league in assists, and is second on team scoring with 22 points (5g, 12a). Defender Chad Dombrowski (7g, 5a) is third on the team with 19 points, while Antou Jallow (8g) is fourth with 16.

MISSING IN ACTION

UWM has been playing without three starters since mid-season, with two missing out due to severe injuries. Freshman midfielder Antou Jallow has been out of the Panthers' lineup since suffering a MCL tear on Oct. 9., yet still ranks sixth in the league in goals (8). He has recently started training and may see spots of time in the tournament. UWM lost another starter when defender Evan Richardson suffered a season-ending ankle injury against Wisconsin, and received surgery on it this week.

ON TOP OF THE LEAGUE

UWM ended the regular season leading the league in most major team statistical categories, including shots, points, goals, goals allowed and shutouts, and tied for the lead in assists.

RECENT TRENDS

Though the Panthers are enjoying the most successful season in program history, the team has recently given up a lot more goals then it had in the beginning of the season. UWM has recorded one shut out while outscoring its opponents, 13-10, in the past six games. The Panthers started the first six games of the season with four shutouts while outscoring their opponents, 18-3.

MOVING UP IN THE RECORDS BOOK

With five shutouts on the season, junior goalkeeper Chris Dadaian ranks ninth in career shutouts with 12 and also ranks fifth in career wins with 26. His senior year still remaining, Dadaian needs just seven more shutouts to tie the career record of 19 shutouts held by PJ Johns. Paul Royal holds the career record in wins with 40. Dadaian's record this season rests at 13-2, putting him in a four-way tie for second place on UWM's single-season win leaderboard. Jon Mroz holds the record with 15 wins from 1990.

SWEEPING THE STATE

UWM stands at top of the Wisconsin universities after posting wins over Marquette (2-1), Wisconsin (3-1) and Green Bay (2-1 OT) this season. The last time the Panthers swept all three state opponents was in 1991 under former head coach Brian Tompkins. The Panthers then defeated Green Bay, 3-1, Wisconsin, 2-0, and Marquette, 2-1, in overtime.

CHEERS

UWM has a tradition of playing three annual cup games during the season. Milwaukee has possession of the Milwaukee Cup after a 2-1 win against city-rival Marquette and also captured the Chancellor's Cup with a 2-1 victory over state-rival Green Bay. Milwaukee captured its third and final cup this season when it hosted Northern Illinois for the John Lewang Memorial Cup on Nov. 17 and won 3-0. The last time UWM retained all three trophies was in 1996.